JUBILEES, BOOK OF. Tbis Apocryphal or Hagadic book, which was used so largely in the ancient church, and was still known to the Byzan tines, but of which both the original Hebrew and the Greek were afterwards lost, has recently been discovered in an Ethiopic version in Abyssinia.
1. Title of the Book, ana' its signification.—The book is called ra 'liognNaia = n5zon nno, the yithilees or the book of yubilees, because it divides the period of the Biblical history upon which it treats, i. e., from the creation to the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan, into fifty Jubilees of forty nine years each, equal to 2450 years, and carefuliy describes every event according to the Jubilee, Sab batic year, or year in which it transpired, as stated In the inscription : 'These are the words of the division of the days according to the law and the testimony, according to the events of the years in Sabbatic years and in Jubilees, etc.' It is also called by the Fathers fl Nen-1-i? Nyco-es, Newreo-rgyc o-es, beekpo-yeyeeres; XEITTL!, rePeCEWS, nnyt.n.: Ntoyr, e., the small Genesis', compendium of Genesis, because it only selects certain portions of Genesis, although through its lengthy comments upon these points it is actually longer than this canonical book (comp. Epiphanius, Adv. Haer., lib. I., tom. iii., cap. vi., ed. Petav.; G. Syncellus, p. 8) ; or according to Ewald's rendering of it, rec. Ne,rrec (subtilia, minute?) I' &eats, because it divides the history upon which it treats into very minute and small periods (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. 271) ; it is called by St. Jerome the .Apocryphal Genesis (see below, sec. 3), and it is also styled rob' 11.1micreces ciroKciAvOs, the Apocalypse of Moses, by George Syncellus and Cedrenus, because the book pretends to be a revelation of God to Moses, and is denominated the book of the division of days' by the Abyssinian Church, from the first words of the inscription.
2. Design and Contents of the Book.—This Apo crypha] book is designed to be a commentary on the canonical books of Genesis and Exodus. (t ) It fixes and arranges more minutely the chronology of the Biblical history from the creation to the en trance of the Israelites into Canaan ; (2) Solves the various difficulties to be found in the narratives of these canonical books ; (3) Describes more fully events which are simply hinted at in the sacred his toryof that early period ; and (4) Expatiates upon the religious observances, such as the Sabbath, the fes tivals, circumcision, sacrifices, lawful and unlawful meats, etc. etc., setting forth their sacred character,
as well as our duty to keep them, by shewing the high antiquity of these institutions, inasmuch as they have been sacredly observed by the patriarchs, as may be seen from the following- notice of these four points.
a. In its chronological arrangements we find that it places the deluge in 1353 A.M. (Jubil. vi. 61), and the exodus in the year 2410 A.M. (I.V. 10.) This, with the forty years' sojourn in the wilderness, yields fifty jubilees of forty-nine years each from the creation to the entrance into Canaan, e. 245o, and also allows a new jubilee period to commence immediately upon the entering of the Israelites into the promised land. Though in the calculations of this period the book of Jubilees agrees in its parti culars with the Hebrew text of Genesis and Exodus, yet it differs front the canonical text both as to the time of the sojourn in Egypt and the years in which the ante and post-diluvian patriarchs begat their children. Thus Jared is said to have lived 62 in stead of 162 years before Enoch was born, Me thuselah was 67 instead of 187 at the birth of Lamech, and Lamech again was 53 instead of 182 when he begat Noah ; agreeing partly with the Samaritan Pentateuch, and partly with the Septua gint in their statements about these ante-diluvian patriarchs. In the chronology of the post-diluvian patriarchs, however, the book of Jubilees deviates front these versions, and says that Arphaxad begat Cainan when 74-75 ; after the deluge, Cainan begat Salah when 57, Salah begat Eber when 67, Eber begat Peleg when 68, Peleg, begat Reu when 61, the birth of Serug is omitted, but Serug is said to have begat Nahor in the year 116 after the birth of Reu, and Nahor begat Terah in his 62d year (comp. Jubil. iv. 4o, etc.) The going down intc Egypt is placed about 2172-2173 A.M. (Jubil. xlv. 1-3), so that when we deduct it from 2410, in which year the exodus is placed, there remains for the so journ in Egypt 238 years. In the description of the lives of Noah, Abraham (xxiii. 23), Isaac (xxxvi. 49-52), Jacob (xlv. 40-43), and Joseph (xlvi. 9-15), the chronology agrees with the Hebrew text of Genesis.